This light and minty chilled dessert is a great way to use up candy canes after the holidays. And, if you’ve over indulged, there’s a sugar free ingredient option.
Peppermint Wafer Dessert was featured in the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. And when I say WAS, I mean it’s in the book my mom has but not in my copy which is a newer edition. So for some reason it didn’t make the cut as new editions were published. Which is a shocker because it’s SO good! I’ve modified the recipe to take into account the current measurements of prepackaged Gelatine and the correct size of cartons of whipping cream.
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Update: I was asked if this dessert freezes well and I wasn’t sure. Thanks to Mary for giving it a test run. It works! AND, she came up with the idea to make individual servings in small canning jars. Brilliant!
You need to use red and white candy canes, not the kind with green and red stripes, otherwise your dessert will be a funky colour. And make sure the candy canes are MINT and not other flavours. For the reduced sugar option, instead of using candy canes, substitute Russell Stover No Sugar Added Starlight Mints which are conveniently packaged in 150 gram sizes so they’re the perfect amount for this recipe.
How to crush hard candy
The best way to crush the candy is to have it inside a freezer bag or other heavier plastic storage bag, sealed with the air pressed out. Otherwise it could pop and your candy bits will fly all over the place. Bang the candy with a rolling pin or the back of a heavy frying pan until you are left with pretty small pieces. You need about a cup of crushed candy. If you’re using the sugar free mints and your pieces are really broken up it may measure slightly less than 1 cup but that’s ok.
Add the candy to the milk, along with a pinch of salt and slowly heat the mixture until all the candy is melted. Don’t try to rush it, you’ll curdle the milk if you heat it too quickly.
Once all the candy is melted, add one package of Gelatine to a bit of cool water and mix well. Then add it to the warm candy mixture and stir until it’s dissolved. Gelatine is sold in a package with 4 envelopes. You need only one for this recipe but it’s so good you’ll want to make it again and again.
The minty milk will start to gel as it cools. You just want it to be partially set before folding in the whipped cream. Refrigerate it for about half an hour, then check to see if it’s starting to thicken. It should take about 45 minutes to get somewhat thick but not set. Then whip the cream until it’s pretty stiff. Don’t over whip it or you’ll have butter.
Use REAL whipped cream, which means the carton of whipping cream found in the dairy aisle that you have to whip yourself. It’s 35% milk fat, sorry about that. There’s no sugar in whipping cream and you don’t need it for this recipe, even if you’re using no sugar added mints. A medium sized carton of whipping cream is 473 ml which is just shy of 2 cups, the perfect amount.
Fold the whipped cream into the partially set milk mixture and continue to fold and stir until it’s well combined. Folding is like a gentle way of stirring so you don’t deflate the whipped cream.
Lay chocolate wafers in the bottom of a baking dish. A nine inch square or similar volume dish is the best size. Break some of the wafers in half to stand up around the edges and use broken pieces to fill in any gaps. Make sure to save some to crush for the top.
Add half of the minty mixture into the dish and spread to the edges. Try not to let the wafers move around too much. Then, arrange a second layer of chocolate wafers over top, similar to the pattern on the bottom. Spoon the rest of the cream mixture on top. Crush the rest of the wafers and sprinkle over the top.
Chill until set, at least several hours or better yet, over night. The wafers soften up as the milk mixture is absorbed so you can easily cut it into servings.
Or, make individual servings in small ramekins or canning jars which are the perfect size for a single chocolate wafer.
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 cup crushed peppermint red stripe candy canes
- OR
- 1 cup Russell Stover No Sugar Added Starlight Mints 150 g package
- 1 ¼ cups milk
- pinch salt
- 1 Tbsp unflavoured Knox Gelatine 1 package
- ¼ cup cold water
- 2 cups real whipping cream, 35% 473 ml carton
- 1 pkg chocolate wafers 200 g package, about 40 wafers
Instructions
- Crush candy in a sealed plastic bag until well broken up.
- In a large saucepan, gently heat milk along with candy and a pinch of salt. Stir occasionally until all the candy is melted. Do not over heat.
- Dissolve Gelatine in 1/4 cup cool water. Add to milk mixture and stir until melted and smooth. Chill until partially set, about 45 minutes.
- Whip cream until very thick, being careful not to over whip. Fold into chilled milk and candy mixture.
- Arrange wafers in bottom of dish and along sides by breaking side pieces in half and standing on flat end. Fill in open spaces with broken pieces. Reserve some wafers to crush for the top.
- Pour half of chilled mixture over wafers. Lay a second layer of wafers over top. Pour remaining half of chilled mixture on top. Sprinkle crushed remaining wafers over top.
- Chill for several hours or over night.
This was a blast from the past from our childhood but tasted just as great as I remember it when Marci brought it to my house as a surprise dessert treat one night.
It’s definitely a fav here!
This was my absolute favorite dessert growing up and still is! I was wondering if it could be frozen so that I could make it in advance? Have you ever tried freezing it?
Thanks,
Mary
I haven’t tried freezing it but I’ve wondered the same thing myself. My gut feeling is that it may be a little watery when it thaws. Maybe this is a good excuse for me to make one. For research purposes of course! Haha. I wonder what it would be like if it were served still frozen, like an ice cream type of dessert. If you try freezing it, let me know how it turns out. And I will update you if I find out the answer first. It does keep for a few days in the fridge so you could make it a day or 2 in advance….as long as it’s covered well it shouldn’t absorb any flavours from other stuff in the fridge.
I wanted To report back to you on freezing this dessert. I did a test run and made an individual One in a 4oz. Ball jar. The chocolate wafers fit perfectly in them! I froze it for a couple of days and thawed in refrigerator, it worked perfectly!
Brilliant!!! Thank you so much for updating me. I was hoping I’d hear back from you. I love love love the idea of making individual servings in jars. Guess what I’m making today??!!
Hi Mary, I tried freezing individual servings just like you did. They were in the freezer for two months! I can’t believe I resisted that long. They were awesome after thawing, just as good as fresh.